Variable return-weight for reciprocating devices.



PATBNTED AUG. 8, 1905.

E. J. LESCEEN.- VARIABLE RETURN WEIGHT EOE EEGIPEOCATING DEVICES.

APPLICATION FILED DIEU. 7, 1903 z sHEETs-EEEET 1.

ANDREW. aA Gamm co Prvow-LrmnanAPnzRs, wAsnmGwu. n. c,

No. 796,739. PATENTED AUG. 8, 1905.

' H. J. LESGEEN.

VARIABLE RETURN WEIGHT POR EEGIPEOGATING DEVICES.

I APPLIOATION FILED DEO. 7, 1903 RSHEETS-SHEBT 2.

Aknnzw. a. Gamm co.. Pmn-LlwomuumsnsA WASHINGTON. D. c.

. supportahorizontally-mountedsheave-wheel.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

HARRY LESOHEN, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR. TO THE A. LESCHEN AND SONS ROPE COMPANY, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI,

A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI.

VARIABLE RETURN-WEIGHT FOR RECIPROCATING DEVICES.

Speoicaton of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 8, 1905.

Application filed December 7, 1903. Serial No, 184,177.

To @ZZ whom, it nfl/ay concern:

Be it known that 1, HARRY J. LEsoHEN, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at the city of St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Variable Weights for Returning Reciprocating Devices in One Direction of Theil' Movement; andI do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, vand to the letters and gures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in counterbalancing-weights, and particularly to that style of weights used in connection with a system of bucket retarding and accelerating levers for aerial wire-rope tramways set forth in an application, Serial No. 184,178, which has matured into Patent No. 773,656, granted November l, 1904:, filed by me on even date with this present application.

The object of the invention is to provide a variable Weight which will exert a graduallyincreasing backward pull upon the levers as they are moved forward by the clip of the running rope in shifting the buckets, the said Weight also exerting a gradually-diminishing pull upon the levers in returning them to their normal position, the ei'ect produced being a minimum of resistance to the speed of the running rope When the levers are engaged by the clip and a diminiution of the jar or shock upon the said levers as they reach their normal position.

Aerial wire-rope tramways comprisetwo terminals, which are placed one at each of the opposite ends ofthe tram-line. These terminals comprise timber structures, both-of which These terminals are connected together by two wire-ropes, one of which is a stationary or track rope, the other being an endless continuous running traction-rope. Both ropes are supported at various intervals of their length by towers, upon 'which sheaves are mounted, in which the ropes are seated. The stationary or track rope connects With a curved metal track that extends around each terminal, and with the track or stationary rope makes a continuous track throughout the bucket.

length of the tram-line. The endless running traction-rope extends around the horizontallymounted sheave of each terminal. The material that is to be transported is most generally loaded into buckets. These buckets are provided with a trolley which is mounted on terial is dumped and is automatically released at the same stations after making a trip over the tram. The number of buckets used depends on the carrying capacity required. Thus the traction rope runs continuously while the tramway is in operation, and a bucket is released at the loading-station and is loaded. It is then picked up by the next button-clip that comes along and is carried to the opposite terminal, where it is automatically released and stopped at the dumpingstation, Where it is automatically dumped, and is then picked up by the next button-clip and carried back to the loading-station. On some lines, especially in mountainous countries, returning' buckets carry supplies of provisions, timber, tools, cc.

The object of the duplicate system of levers and slides that are shown in connection With my present invention is to retard and slow up and stop at the stopping-stations the buckets coming into each terminal, and also to start and gradually accelerate the movement of the buckets standing at the stopping-station that have been either filled or dumped while standing there to substantially the same speed that the traction rope is moving at before the traction-rope picksup the bucket 'in order to avoid the shock and strain that the running rope would receive if it picked up a standing move and seize the incoming buckets at the time they are automatically released from the traction-rope, which is accomplished by a Thus one set of levers are made to mechanism independent of the levers, when l prises levers 4, 5, and 6 and a short arm Z),

they iirst enter the terminais. This iirst set of levers is moved by the same clip that rethem in motion and picks up the bucket that isstanding at the stopping-station, which is started up and moved out as the incoming bucket slows down, in order that the incoming bucket may take its place and be loaded or dumped before another bucket comes in. When each set of levers has performed its 4operative movement and released the bucket it has seized and either slowed down and stopped or started and accelerated it, as the case may be, they are returned to their normal position by a weight; and the object of my present invention is to providea variable weightthat is, a weight that will start the levers back to their normal positions and that will decrease progressively in weight gradually and continuously as the levers approach their normal standing position, so that the levers will move back with a gradually-decreasing speed and stop in their normal operative position without shock or jar,in which position they are ready to engage and slow down and stop another bucket.

I accomplish these ends by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of a portion of the dumping-terminal of an aerial wire-rope tramway, showing the bucket retarding and accelerating levers and their counterbalancingweight. Fig. 2 is a front elevation thereof.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated a portion of the dumping-terminal of an aerial wire-rope tramway, showing the bucket retarding and accelerating levers, which are pivoted upon the said terminal, the bucketshifting slides which they operate, and the manner of connecting the improved counterbalancing-'weight to the said levers and to the terminal structure. The levers and slides and mechanism connected with the said slides for shifting the buckets form no part of the present invention, and in this application it is only necessary to describe them in a general way in order to clearly define the operation of my improved counterbalancingweight and its connection with the said levers and parts carried by them.

The retarding and accelerating levers comprise two sets of levers A and B, which are similar in construction and operation. The set A comprises levers 1 2 3 and a short arm co, connecting levers 1 and 3. The set B comlWhen the same connecting levers 4 and 6. The lever 1 is pivoted upon a vertical shaft 7, secured in brackets which are bolted to the terminal near the entrance end thereof. To the outer end of this lever is pivoted the outer end of the lever 2, the inner end of which is pivoted to a slide 8, which rides upon a track 9, formed on a clip-guide 10, which is suitably secured to the terminal. The lever 3 is connected at its outer end to a lateral projection at about the central portion of the lever 1, so as to have a limited slidingmovement thereon, and it is further connected to the said lever by the short arm a. The inner end of the lever 3 is pivoted to a slide 11, which also moves'upon the track 9 of the clip-guide. The lever 4 of set B is pivoted upon a vertical shaft 12, secured in brackets which are bolted to the terminal a suitable distance beyond the brackets in which the shaft 7 is secured. To the outer end of the lever 4 is pivoted the outer end of lever 5, the inner end of which is pivoted to the slide 8. The lever 6 is connected at its outer end to a lateral projection at about the central portion of lever 4, so as to have a limited sliding movement thereon, and it is further connected to the said lever by the short arm b. The inner end of the lever 6 is pivoted to a slide 13, which moves upon the track of the clip-guide.

The traction-rope 14, which propels the bucket 15, passes through the clip-guide l0 and around a gripping-sheave (not shown) at the farther end of the terminal. This rope is provided at intervals with clips 16, which engage suitable grips attached to the bucketpendants, and thc stem portions of the said clips in passing through the clip-guide engage a pair of dogs 8", which are pivoted to the slide 8 and lie within the clip-guide in the path of the passing clip. After engaging these dogs the clip carries the slide 8 along with it a predetermined distance, thus moving the levers 2 and 5, which are pivoted to it and which impart movement to levers 1 and 4, which in turn operate the levers 3 and 6, to which the slides 11 and 13, respectively, are pivoted, this movement of the levers being clearly indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1. As a bucket enters the terminal it disconnects automatically from the clip of the tractionrope and is caught by` a stop-arm 18 and dog 19, carried by the slide 11, and the clip after its release from the bucket-grip engages the dogs 8A of slide 8, as previously stated, whereby the movement of the various levers is effected. The slide 11 is carried to about midway of the length of the clip-guide, where its arm 18 automatically releases the bucket, which is held by suitable mechanism 2O until dumped. Meanwhile a bucket at this point which was already dumped and which was engaged by a hook 21, pivoted to slide 13, is

moved away from this position by the lever 6 simultaneously with the movement toward this position of the bucket carried by slide l1. As the two sets of levers reach the limit of their forward movement the two buckets are simultaneously and automatically released and the rope-clip is at the same instant automatically released from the dogs of vslide 8 and the levers return to the position'shown in full line in Fig. 1. The levers are returned to their normal position by the counterbalancing-weight which forms the subject-matter of the present invention and which will now be described.

To the lever 3 of set A near to where it is pivoted to slide 11 is suitably attached one end of a rope 22, which rope extends rearward and passes partly around a sheave 23 on the vertical shaft 7, to which lever l is pivoted. Thence it passes over a vertically-disposed sheave 24 and extends downward a slightly greater distance than that which the slide 11 moves, its end being secured to one end of a heavy cable 25. The cable or chain makes ashort loop from the end of the rope, and its opposite end is carried up and secured to the terminal Vstructure about on an even plane with the sheave 24. By reference to Fig. 2 it will be seen that a small portion of the weight of the cable 25 is borne by the rope 22, while the major portion of its weight is carried by the terminal structure. Now as a bucket enters the terminal and is automatically released from the rope-clip the said clip immediately engages the dogs 8A of slide 8 and operates the levers in the manner before described. The rope travels at a considerable speed; but when its clip engages the dogs 8A, the slight pull exerted upon the levers by the divided weight of the cable will permit them to be moved forward with but a minimum of resistance to the speed of the rope. This weight or pull upon the levers gradually increases, however, as the levers move forward, and by the time they reach the limit of their forward movement the lower end of the cable will have been drawn upto the sheave 24, when its weight will be borne equally by the rope 22 and the terminal structure. Thus, when the clip is released from the dogs 8A, the pull upon the levers through their connection by rope 22, with the cable 25, will be ample to give them a quick start rearward; but as the weight upon the rope' gradually diminishes as the cable drops down the levers will reach their normal position with but a slight amount of jar.

The' arm 2()A of the mechanism 20, which holds the buckets whilebeing dumped, is a swinging arm and is moved to one side in order to permit the emptied bucket to pass out by slide l?) and its hook. This arm is returned to its normal position in the sanne manner as the levers above described, the cable being shown shorter, as the weight required is much less than in the former instance.

While I have especially designed my variable counterbalancing-weight for use in connection with aerial Wire-rope tramway-terminals, I contemplate the use of my invention with any reciprocating device or mechanism which is returnable in one direction of its reciprocal movement by a weighted member cooperatively operated by any suitable carrier or movable device or prime mover. The details of the'mechanism with which the variable counterweight is employed are shown in my patent referred to above.

My invention is simple, inexpensive, practical, and admirably adapted to the uses for which it is intended.

Having fully described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. Inan aerial tramway, a lever having means for controlling the movement of a bucket, and a counterbalance attached to said lever. and constructed to give an increased tractive effect as said lever moves in one di-v rection.

2. In an'aerial tramway, a lever having 4means for controlling the movement of a bucket, and a counterbalance consisting of a heavy Flexible member having one end connected to said lever and the other end connected to a fixed support.

3. In an aerial wire-rope tramway, the combination with the bucket retarding and accelerating levers, of a counterbalancing-weight attached to said levers, which is gradually increased,as the levers move forward, and gradually diminished as the levers are thereby returned to their normal position, substantially as shown.

4. In an aerial wire-rope tramway, the combination with the bucket retarding and accelerating levers, of a flexible, counterbalancingweight attached to said levers so as to exert a pull upon them, counter to their forward movement, said weight being gradually increased asthe levers are moved forward and gradually diminished as the levers are thereby returned to their normal position, substantially as shown.

5. In an aerial wire-rope tramway, the com-A bination with two sets of cooperating' levers,

one set of which is arranged to retard the progress of an incoming bucket, while the other set is arranged to accelerate the movement of an outgoing bucket; of a iiexible, counterbalancing-weight attached to said levers so as to exert a pull upon them counterto their forward movement, said weight being gradually increased as the levers move forward, and gradually diminished as the levers are thereby returned to their normal position, substantially as shown.

6. In an aerial wire-rope tramway, the combination with the terminal, the clip-guide secured thereto, the slides upon the clip-guide, and the bucket retarding and accelerating levers which are pivoted to the terminal and to the slides, of a iexible, counterbalancingweight, secured to said levers so as to exert a pull upon them counter to their forward move-- ment, said weight being gradually increased as the levers move forward, and gradually diminished as the levers are thereby returned to their normal position, substantially as shown.

7. In an aerial wire-rope tramway, the combination with the terminal, the clip-guide secured thereto, the traction-rope having clips thereon, which pass through said clip-guide, the slide on the clip-guide which is operated by the clips, and the bucket retarding and accelerating levers which are pivoted to said slide, and to the terminal, of a flexible, counterbalancing-weight attached to said levers so as to exert a pull upon them, counter to their forward movement, said weight being gradually increased as the levers move forward, and gradually diminished as the levers are thereby returned to `their normal position, substantially as shown.

8. In an aerial wire-rope tramway, the combination with the terminal, the clip-guide thereon, the traction-ro pe having' clips secured thereto, the clip-operated slide on the clipguide, and the bucket retarding and accelerating levers which are pivoted to said slide and to the terminal of a rope secured to said levers, which extends rearward therefrom over suitably-positioned sheaves, and downward a predetermined distance; a cable attached at one end to the free end of the said rope, and at its opposite end to the terminal structure, substantially on the same plane with the said sheaves, the attachment of said cable to the rope and to the terminal being such that the preponderance ot' its weight is borne by the terminal, when the said levers, are in their normal position, substantially as shown.

9. In an automatic tramway, the combination with the terminal, the traction-rope and clip and the buckets, ot' a pair of verticallydisposed brackets secured thereto, at the rear end of said terminal, a vertical shaft journaled in said brackets, an abutment-lever pivotally secured at one end to said shaft, laterallyprojecting arms on said abutment-lever intermediate oi' its ends', a clip-guideway secured to said terminal, a slideway on said guideway, a bucket-receiving slide mounted on said slideway, means connected therewith for gripping the incoming buckets at the time they are released Jfrom said clips, a clip-operating slide reciprocally mounted on said slideway and arranged to attach itself to said clips as they pass through said clip-guideway after being released from said buckets and adapted to be moved a predetermined distance along said slideway, a lever pivotally secured to said clip-slide at one end and at its opposite end pivotally secured to said cross-arm lever, a lever pivotally secured at one end to said bucket-receiving slide and having its opposite end arranged and provided with a curved slotted end and pivotally secured to the adjacent cross-arm. a lever pivotally secured at one end to said curved slotted lever and at its opposite end to said opposite cross-arm, a horizontal sheave mounted on said vertical shaft, a vertical sheave mounted on said terminal, a rope secured at one end to said curved lever intermediate of its ends and extending over said sheaves, and a vertically-hanging chain secured at one end to said rope at a sufcient distance from the nearest sheave to permit said rope to run over said sheaves during the operative reciprocal movement of said bucketreceiving slide and said lever without running the end ot' said chain onto said sheaves and having the opposite end of said chain secured to a suitable support in a position to permit it to hang in the form of a semicircular loop from said rope and its support, substantially as described.

l0. In an automatic tramway, the combination of the bucket-receiving and clip-operating slides, and the system of levers pivotally connecting the said slides together, with the said slides and levers variable returning device, comprising the rope-sheaves operatively supported on said terminal, the rope secured at one end to said system of levers and arranged with its opposite end hanging vertically down over said sheaves, and a weight consisting ot' a chain secured at one end to said terminal and having its opposite end secured to said rope far enough below said sheave to prevent the end ot' said chain from being drawn to said sheave and having the center ot said chain hung from said rope and its support in a semicircular loop, whereby said chain acts as a variable pull-back weight on said levers, substantially as described.

11. In an automatic tramway, the combination with the terminal having a bucket-stopping station, and bucket stopping and holding devices at said'station comprising the swinging arm arranged with its free end normally held across the path of the incoming buckets, the spring-actuated dog arranged in the passing path of said buckets at a short distance from said swinging arm, an abutment positioned to detine the-position ot' said swinging arm across the path oi' said incoming buckets, and the variable returning weight for normally holding said swinging arm in operative relation to said abutment, comprising a rope secured at one end to said lever and suitably supported lon sheaves to allow its opposite end to hang vertically downward far enough below said sheave to permit said swinging arm to operatively swing into and out ot' the path of said buckets without causing the end In testimonywhereofl ax my signature in of the rope to pass over the sheaves, and a presence of two Witnesses. Weight comprising a chain having one end attached to said rope and its opposite end attached to said terminal and having its center Witnesses: portion hanging in a semicircular loop from J. P. SWENEY, its ends, substantially as described. E. P. KIPP.

HARRY J. LESCHEN. 

